Somalia: Ethiopia Denies Troop Incursion Allegations, 4/13/99

SOMALIA - Ethiopia denies troop incursion allegations

NAIROBI, 13 April (IRIN) - Ethiopia has denied allegations
of incursions and torture in Somalia by a group of
Somali warlords.

On Sunday, Somali faction leaders Ali Mahdi Mohamed,
Hussein Mohamed Aidid and Omar Haji Masale presented
a united front by sending a protest letter to the UN
Security Council, asking that action be taken against
the Ethiopian government for its "unprovoked incursions
into Somalia". Media sources in Mogadishu noted
this was the first time Somalia had issued a "national
protest", since the overthrow of Mohamed Siad
Barre in 1991.

The Somali statement claimed that Ethiopian forces had
forcibly occupied the towns of Beled-Hawo and Dolo
in the southwestern Gedo Region last week, taking over
the local administration and arresting all the Somali
administrative and security personnel.

However, Ethiopia rejected the accusations as "unfounded".
A government statement on Monday acknowledged Ethiopia
had detained Somali nationals "caught smuggling
explosives into Ethiopia", but dismissed allegations
of "heavily-armed" Ethiopian soldiers entering
Somalia.

A spokesman for the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi, quoted
by AFP, on Tuesday further dismissed accusations by
Masale that Ethiopia had tortured Somalis captured
inside southern Somalia. These were "unfounded
lies intended to mislead international public opinion",
he said.

In another development, faction leader Hussein Aidid
said his militia killed three Somali men allegedly
hired by Ethiopia to abduct Oromo leaders residing
in Mogadishu, media sources in the Somali capital told
IRIN.

Aidid said his faction had provided a "safe haven"
for Oromos who have been refugees in Somalia since
the 1970s. These included a small group who were "politically
organised", he added.

Mengistu Ayalew at the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi
told IRIN on Tuesday that his government has "no
agents" in Somalia and does not make these kinds
of incursions.

"The Oromo Liberation Front, as a terrorist organisation,
has been gaining some support from faction leaders,
but we are not interested in violating the territory
of Somalia", Mengistu added.

He dismissed Aidid's claims as "a continuation
of the fabrications made by certain forces in Somalia
who are explicitly supported by Eritrea".